Determining how leave laws and policies interact is very complicated. Because of this, employers should be sure to consult outside counsel to ensure their leave policies are in compliance with federal, state and local laws, and that those policies are being applied lawfully. Employers and attorneys (not so fondly) refer to these as the “Bermuda Triangle” of employment law: the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and state workers’ compensation laws. More information…
In May 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its “Guideline for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection (SSI)” to provide new and updated evidence-based recommendations for the prevention of SSI. Read “What the infection preventionist needs to know,” by Michael Anne Preas, Lyndsay O’Hara and Kerri Thom, for a succinct and timely overview of what’s new in the guideline. This article, published in the Fall 2017 issue of Prevention Strategist, can be accessed here.
The recently released app of The Vaccine Handbook is now available from the IAC. The free app, which is available for Apple iPhones and iPads only, contains the complete 2017 (6th) edition of The Vaccine Handbook (“The Purple Book”), by Dr. Gary Marshall, Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Louisville. The app is fully searchable, with functionality that includes bookmarking, highlighting, user annotation and links to important vaccination resources.
“The Purple Book” is a comprehensive source of vaccine information, drawing together vaccine science, guidance and practice into a user-friendly resource for the private office, public health clinic, academic medical center, classroom and hospital. The first section provides background on vaccine immunology, development, infrastructure, policy, standards, implementation, special circumstances, and—perhaps most importantly—addressing concerns. The second section contains details about every vaccine currently licensed in the United States, including the burden and epidemiology of the respective disease, history of the immunization program, vaccine constituents, efficacy, safety and recommendations.
Print copies of the book ($34.95 each; bulk discounts are available from the publisher) can be ordered from the IAC website at www.immunize.org/vaccine-handbook.
CDC has released a new free, interactive, online educational program (“e-Learn”) that serves as a useful introductory course or a great refresher on vaccine administration. Proper vaccine administration is critical for ensuring that vaccines are both safe and effective, but unfortunately, administration errors happen too frequently. Some of the most common vaccination administration errors include:
Not following the recommended immunization schedule
Administering improperly stored or expired vaccine and/or diluent
Administering the wrong vaccine—confusing look-alike or sound-alike vaccines such as DTaP/Tdap, or administering products outside age indications
The self-paced e-Learn provides comprehensive training—using videos, job aids and other resources to accommodate a variety of learning styles—and offers a certificate of completion and/or continuing education for those who complete the training.
IAC recently revised the resource for healthcare professionals titled Before you vaccinate adults, consider their “H-A-L-O”! This piece features a chart to help immunization providers assess possible vaccine indications based on a patient’s Health, Age, Lifestyle and Occupation.
Changes were made: to add a risk factor of living in an outbreak area as one of the indicators for HepA, MenACWY and MenB vaccination; to create a separate section for MenB vaccine; and to add the permissive recommendations for HepA, HepB and MenB within the “Age Factors” column.
From United States Drug Enforcement Administration
In the last several years, U.S. Law Enforcement has seen a dramatic increase in the availability of dangerous synthetic opioids. A large majority of these synthetic opioids are structural derivatives of the synthetic drug “fentanyl.” Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid currently listed as a Schedule II prescription drug that mimics the effects of morphine in the human body, but has potency 50–100 times that of morphine. Due to the high potency and availability of fentanyl, both transnational and domestic criminal organizations are increasingly utilizing these dangerous synthetic opioids as an adulterant in heroin and other controlled substances. The presence of these synthetic opioids in the illicit U.S. drug market is extremely concerning as the potency of these drugs has led to a significant increase in overdose incidents and overdose related deaths throughout the nation.
On May 3, Kelly Moore, MD, MPH, Director, Tennessee Immunization Program and Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, presented a webinar for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) on the principles of vaccine storage and handling. You can now access this archived webinar to watch at your convenience.
Other archived NFID webinars, including ones on such topics as travel and occupational vaccination, can be found in the NFID Webinar Library.
Personal Protective Measures
All travelers to cholera-affected areas should follow safe food and water precautions and proper sanitation and personal hygiene measures as primary strategies to prevent cholera. Travelers who develop severe diarrhea should seek prompt medical attention, particularly fluid replacement therapy.
Use of CVD 103-HgR
CVD 103-HgR is recommended for adult travelers (aged 18–64 years) from the United States to an area of active cholera transmission. An area of active cholera transmission is defined as a province, state, or other administrative subdivision within a country with endemic or epidemic cholera caused by toxigenic V. cholerae O1 and includes areas with cholera activity within the last year that are prone to recurrence of cholera epidemics; it does not include areas where only rare imported or sporadic cases have been reported.
The vaccine is not routinely recommended for travelers who are not visiting areas of active cholera transmission. Most travelers from the United States do not visit areas with active cholera transmission (https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel).
Booster Doses
At this time, no data exist about the safety and efficacy of booster doses of lyophilized CVD 103-HgR for the prevention of cholera. The duration of protection conferred by the primary dose beyond the evaluated three-month period is unknown. There is no recommendation for use of booster doses at this time.